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[DaBuddaDa]

I wonder how many casual users of GOG read that they were closing, said "oh, that's too bad!" and will forget about it and never know it reopened. Idiots.

 

[charlequin]

That's all we need to know, it was a stunt. Well, one can say many things, but GOG certainly got a huge amount of attention over the weekend, so I'm pretty sure the stunt paid off for them in the end. People who are now angry will have forgotten everything as soon as the next great game is released on the service - as it always happens with such attitudes - and at the same time many people who weren't aware of GOG so far are aware now. They won.

This is why I saved time by never actually getting worked up about it being a stunt in the first place. :lol

This is retarded, and they're going to lose many customers over this.

I disagree. This is retarded and it's not going to hurt their business in any remotely meaningful way.

 

[kodt]

Because neither have ever given me any headache or problems installing and playing my games, but one has tricked me into thinking they were going out of business and denied me access to my games for a week while the other hasn't?

This isn't that difficult a concept: Steam has never broken the cardinal rule of "don't mess with your consumer base;" GOG has. I'm not going to boycott them, but there's nothing hypocritical about doing so and still supporting steam. Ain't that black and white, friend.

If you had downloaded all of your purchased games as soon as you bought them you would never had been denied your games, since they are DRM free you can have as many backups as you would like.

On Steam if the service is down you are out of luck. Offline mode seems to work now if you already downloaded the game, but for years offline mode was unreliable.

If you have a billing issue and issue a charge back on your credit card Valve will lock you out of your Steam account and all of your games, not just the game you issued a charge back on. There are no guarantees you will get your account back. Valve can ban you from your account and all of your games for any reason without recourse, that is not a good system.

If you get banned on VAC on one game you get banned from all VAC games. There have been false positives in one game which then locks you out of all of your games. Also previous 5 year bans were extended to never expire. (I have an account that was banned b/c I accidentally went online with hacks. We were using hacks at small LAN for fun where everyone knew we were using hacks and we wanted to test them out. I forgot to disable them and now that account is VAC banned for life, I don't think 1 offense should mandate a lifetime ban even though I know this one was my fault.)

I use steam a ton, but you must recognize the obvious problems it has. And yes, customers have been screwed out of playing their games on Steam many times. Maybe not intentionally though. If this turns out to be a stunt it is pretty stupid, but to me no DRM is a bigger issue so they gain enough credit from that to allow for some mistakes.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

End result:

What a crappy way to get interest! But they hold my cocaine, so I will deal with them regardless of how they abuse me.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, this was really poor judgment. Imagine if MS closed XBLA for a few days as some kind of stunt?

 

[hamchan]

"We played a game with our users. The message was a little game. GOG is back with a new site that is better than ever. We are back with no DRM and no download client."

Well fuck them now. Even if they got Baldur's Gate I still won't buy from them. if they can get it so can steam.

 

[MattyGrovesOrMe]

Announce full Windows 7 64-bit support please.

 

[MomoPufflet]

Fucking stupid, pathetic stunt.

 

[Yaweee]

I don't see how a DD service can play such a joke. All it did is make people even more aware of what happens if the company they've purchased their games from goes belly up.

I mean, wow, what an astonishingly horrible idea.

 

[mantidor]

Still DRM free. ))

GOOD!

Dumb stunt, but I really don't think it was that terrible. The model they have assumes you just download all your games instead of leaving them sitting there, so shutting down would only make us sad, but we won't lose our games. They also promised a solution to download everything from the start, so we really shouldn't had been as distressed.

Now steam shutting down would indeed block you from your games, that would be a whole different level and people would have a reason to hate the company if shutting down was a stunt.

 

[zorbsie]

No, nothing is better than that. Say something stupid like that again and you will be sucked.

duly noted. :lol
These guys are crazy. I love it.

 

[Baloonatic]

I'm glad it will still be around, it's a very good service.

 

[rainking187]

How could they have thought this was a good idea?

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Wait, so literally nothing changed then it seems?

 

[Owzers]

I don't see how a DD service can play such a joke. All it did is make people even more aware of what happens if the company they've purchased their games from goes belly up.

I mean, wow, what an astonishingly horrible idea.

All they had to do was pretend to be closing down yet still let users log-in and download their already purchased games. not doing so has made me dislike DD out of fear of losing all the games i can't fit on my laptop.

 

[biocat]

Let me quote myself real quick here.

This seems like a cruel way to upgrade from beta.

 

[Actiss]

Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga flashed by at the top for $9.99!

 

[nexen]

*sigh*

Angry.

edit: At least it brought attention to the fact that this kind of thing could happen for real. So many people wishing for an all DD future seem completely blind to it.

 

[subversus]

Don't give a shit, glad they're back

here's hoping for more games tommorow

 

[Shogun]

I personally love this. The gaming industry is way too serious. Only thing they fucked up was bringing down the site when they needed to provide downloads.

Smoogle. Good lord I love this.

 

[duckroll]

I disagree. This is retarded and it's not going to hurt their business in any remotely meaningful way.

I don't know about that. Most people I know who used GOG got pretty damn panicky when it "died", and started looking for alternatives. Many have found alternatives, and have moved on. They're not going to be amused to find that it was all a joke.

 

[faceless007]

"Simplicity is good, right brother?"
[beat]
"Yeah I guess."

This is terrible and awesome at the same time.

 

[vertopci]

I don't see how a 1 week PR stunt is worse than selling software that is permanently infested with DRM. If you boycott GOG but continue to use Steam you are a hypocrite.

What the fuck are you going on about? Are you retarded?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I'm just glad GOG isn't actually going away.

 

[water_wendi]

I don't know about that. Most people I know who used GOG got pretty damn panicky when it "died", and started looking for alternatives. Many have found alternatives, and have moved on. They're not going to be amused to find that it was all a joke.

What are these DRM-free alternatives that have Gogs old game library?

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I don't know about that. Most people I know who used GOG got pretty damn panicky when it "died", and started looking for alternatives. Many have found alternatives, and have moved on. They're not going to be amused to find that it was all a joke.

Ya... I bought a bunch of stuff off of impulse that I was going to buy off of GOG because I thought they were dead and wanted those games. :/

What are these DRM-free alternatives that have Gogs old game library?

Not DRM free but I'm sure people went to places like impulse that had some of the games because they wanted to play it DRM or no DRM.

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Was the whole point of this to just get people to think hey what happens if Steam ever tanks? Besides didn't Gabe say at one point that they tested out stuff to no longer require authorization in some event like that?

Also what have they said so far? I got to embarrassed to watch in public when the druids popped up. :lol

 

[Struct09]

Stupid stunt, but I'll still be buying games from them

 

[zorbsie]

Marketing blah blah. These guys are awesome.
Less marketing blah blah!

 

[Shogun]

:lol at title change.

 

[nexen]

What are these DRM-free alternatives that have Gogs old game library?

They are legion, but none of them legal.

 

[Drkirby]

I will be shocked if there isn't some sort of attack on the site its self in the coming days.

 

[duckroll]

What are these DRM-free alternatives that have Gogs old game library?

You're assuming that DRM is the sole and only concern of everyone who buys anything from GOG. That's a really silly assumption.

 

[mclem]

Ya... I bought a bunch of stuff off of impulse that I was going to buy off of GOG because I thought they were dead and wanted those games. :/

So that would make them...

(sunglasses on)

an impulse purchase?

 

[Deleted member 47027]

If anything, their business will INCREASE. We all got 'reminded' that we need to support gog, and now we definitely will. More people will be aware and into it than those who ran away in a huff and went home with their ball.

 

[Jex]

Someone who isn't used to how GODDAMN SERIOUS the internet is.

Um, they are a business that's trying to make money.

People pay them for products. That's fairly serious.

This is something a 14 year-old would come up with.

People were supportive of them because they were fighting the good fight.

 

[Songbird]

What a sham. If they consider limiting my download availability a funny joke then they won't be getting my business again.

 

[androvsky]

Ya... I bought a bunch of stuff off of impulse that I was going to buy off of GOG because I thought they were dead and wanted those games. :/




Not DRM free but I'm sure people went to places like impulse that had some of the games because they wanted to play it DRM or no DRM.

Hmm, time to look into impulse.

 

[BobsRevenge]

So that would make them...

(sunglasses on)

an impulse purchase?

...

nice.

 

[hamchan]

I'm angry at them because I actually felt bad for them when I thought they closed down. Now it turns out they've been lying to everyone, garnering sympathy from folk, then turning around and laughing in our faces. What a dick move.

 

[water_wendi]

Was the whole point of this to just get people to think hey what happens if Steam ever tanks?

If i used DD this would probably make me seriously question whether DRM DD would be worth it.

Besides didn't Gabe say at one point that they tested out stuff to no longer require authorization in some event like that?

ive tried to find something in writing that says that your Steam games are yours if Valve goes under or Gabe dies and Kotick buys out Valve or whatever.. and ive come up with nothing. The thing you are talking about is something that Gabe said in an email like in 2004 and he doesnt say that the games will be DRM-free just that it should be easy to remove it.

 

[Snow]

How did a stunt that emphasizes the big weak point of a hosted game service, in particular a small one, seem like a good idea. I know that people dislike PR for making information out of companies boring but having a PR department should ensure that ideas like this get shot down at an appropriately early stage.

I have to admit that the monk press conference is kind of cracking me up, but it still would've been funny without the "we are shutting down" fake out.

 

[mantidor]

I don't see how a DD service can play such a joke. All it did is make people even more aware of what happens if the company they've purchased their games from goes belly up.

I mean, wow, what an astonishingly horrible idea.

If anything, at least personally, it made feel safer with the purchases I made with them because I wouldn't lose them, and it did made me worry about Steam if a similar scenario happened.

I wonder how many casual users of GOG read that they were closing, said "oh, that's too bad!" and will forget about it and never know it reopened. Idiots.

I don't think there are many casual users of gog since their product is aimed at more dedicated gamers. Not many modern gamers would stand the graphics on most of their games, let alone play them.

 

[Edgeward]

Really ill-conceived and stupid, but at least it isn't going away as the service itself is still fucking great. Now I can buy Freespace 2, but I would feel kinda bad to as it kinda supports this dumbass behavior. This feeling will pass but for now I'm a little miffed.

 

[firehawk12]

If anything, their business will INCREASE. We all got 'reminded' that we need to support gog, and now we definitely will. More people will be aware and into it than those who ran away in a huff and went home with their ball.

Like I said before, if XBLA and PSN shut down for a week with a big sign that said their service is dead, would you feel confident ever buying from them again?

 

[Schmattakopf]

"Isn't religion about marketing? Wait, this is getting controversial, let's stop here."

 

[mantidor]

How did a stunt that emphasizes the big weak point of a hosted game service, in particular a small one, seem like a good idea.

It actually enphasizes their strong point, if this happens to Steam you are screwed. With GOG you would've lost nothing.

I'm not saying it was a clever move, but I can see where they are coming from.

 

[szaromir]

I wrote earlier in the thread that the site has been profitable almost since day 1, I wonder why folks thought that the model was unsustainable.

 

[water_wendi]

Like I said before, if XBLA and PSN shut down for a week with a big sign that said their service is dead, would you feel confident ever buying from them again?

Like Live itself hasnt gone down before? Three days in a couple years downtime isnt so bad :lol

 

[BobsRevenge]

Like I said before, if XBLA and PSN shut down for a week with a big sign that said their service is dead, would you feel confident ever buying from them again?

You're comparing a small polish company to two giants of the video game industry.